Teenager is freed over 'joint murder'

A teenager who was jailed for life for murdering a policeman although he was 100 yards away from the stabbing and wearing handcuffs, was freed by the House of Lords yesterday.

Philip English, now 19, had been convicted of stabbing Sergeant Bill Forth to death in Gateshead in 1993. He was believed to be the youngest person convicted of murdering a policeman.

Five Law Lords overturned the 1994 conviction yesterday at a hearing last only a few minutes.

As he was driven away from Moorland prison, near Doncaster, yesterday evening, the teenager thanked his family and lawyers for believing in him. "The last four years have been hard. I just want to go home," he said.

"I owe my family a lot for believing in everything."

He said he would be spending his first night of freedom celebrating with his family.

His stepmother, Mandy English, who was at the House of Lords for the hearing said she was "ecstatic." She added: "I don't think it has sunk in yet."

Ms English said it had been a long and hard fight but at the end of the day it had "all been worth it".

"I'd been told that no one gets to go to the House of Lords. I said I'm going to go for it."

She said campaigning on Philip's behalf had consumed her life over the past four years, while she had been trying to work on a degree at Durham University.

She had taken a mobile phone to the court to telephone Philip's mother, Marion Hutchinson, and also to call the prison to pass the news on to Philip himself, who had been told to wait by the telephone.

While the Law Lords will give the reasons for the landmark ruling at a later date, it is believed the case will set new parameters for the law of "joint enterprise", which saw Derek Bentley executed in 1953 for the murder of a policeman carried out by someone else.

But while Bentley - whose family's posthumous bid to clear his name is with the Criminal Cases Review Commission - cried out "let him have it" to his accomplice, Mr English was not even in sight of the crime.

The fatal stabbing was carried out by Paul Weddle, then aged 25, after Sgt Forth was called to an incident at the home of Weddle's former girlfriend.

The court heard that Weddle and Mr English, then a 15-year-old schoolboy, set about the sergeant with pieces of fencing. After Mr English ran off and was caught around the corner, Weddle produced a small knife and then stabbed Sgt Forth to death.

Mr English said at his trial in 1994 that he did not know Weddle had had a knife and had never intended that Sgt Forth should suffer serious harm.

He was convicted of murder on a 10-2 majority. The prosecution argued that even if he did run away, Mr English remained a party to the agreement to the attack and was liable for what Weddle did.

Sergeant Forth's widow, Gill Merrin, her voice shaking with emotion, said after the hearing: "I just feel that Bill has been let down by the British justice system. I don't know why and I need to understand why.

"As far as I'm concerned he [Philip English] was guilty and he still will be."